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De-risking trade with China is a risky business
Security-driven approach to trade clashes with Western corporate interests and environmental targets
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The theory behind de-risking is now reasonably clear. The practice, however, is much murkier.
PHOTO: AFP
Gideon Rachman
The contest for word of the year is already over. In the geopolitical category, the winner is “de-risking”.
This D-word has moved from obscurity to ubiquity in less than two months. It was the centrepiece of a speech about China made in late March by Dr Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president. De-risking was then seized upon by the Biden administration. Then, last week, it was endorsed by a Group of Seven (G-7) summit.
